Mozilla coders are misguided over App Store criticisms

Two web developers involved in work at Mozilla are hoping to bring an "open" …

Two prominent web developers involved with Mozilla have taken new positions at Palm, heading up developer relations for is webOS platform. While both Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith extol the open web as the future of app delivery, both have made potshots at Apple and its closed App Store. This is despite the fact that Apple hasn't in any way limited web-based apps from being delivered over the iPhone, and still actively encourages developers to consider the web as an alternate app deployment method.

Apple has been at the forefront of promoting open web standards, building its Safari browser around the open source WebKit rendering engine and embracing open standards such as CSS3 and HTML5. Apple has also had a hand in creating new standards, such as the <canvas> element, which has been adopted by every major browser except for Internet Explorer. The company also built its MobileMe service using the open source SproutCore JavaScript framework.

In fact, when the iPhone was first released, Apple tried to promote the web as the primary platform to deliver third-party applications to the revolutionary mobile device. Still, developers balked and demanded a native development environment. Apple capitulated, delivering a native Objective-C-based SDK—Cocoa Touch—with the release of iPhone OS 2.0. The company also built an application distribution system based on the infrastructure used to deliver the iTunes Store, making app distribution possible for even lone developers. To say that the concept of an App Store has essentially revolutionized app distribution for smartphones and other mobile devices is an understatement, and by most metrics the App Store has been a wild success.

Palm went a slightly different direction with its webOS, which uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as the native programming "language," and WebKit for rendering the code into a useable app. While that allows developers experienced with web-based development to easily transfer their knowledge to developing apps for Palm's platform, it doesn't remove the distinction between native and web apps. Like the iPhone, apps that want to access hardware directly must be written specifically for webOS using APIs provided by Palm—just as iPhone developers use Apple-provided APIs to write native applications for the iPhone. Apple's approach so far offers a significant performance advantage, though that advantage could diminish over time. However, web-based apps delivered via a browser can be written to work with both platforms, either with identical code, or with slight modifications for visual presentation.

Both Almaer and Galbraith believe that the advances being made in web developement—such as improvements in JavaScript speed or the new features enabled by HTML5—as well as the shrinking of network-connected hardware to pocketable size, offer a the potential for development utopia. Developers can write software once, and have it be instantly deployed on any platform by simply uploading to a web server. However, as proponents of open systems, they are critical of Apple's closed, opaque approach to managing the App Store so far.

"My enthusiasm for this amazing new world is tempered by some unfortunate decisions made by some of the players in this space," Galbraith wrote in his blog. "It seems that some view this revolution as a chance to seize power in downright Orwellian ways by constraining what we as developers can say, dictating what kinds of apps we can create, controlling how we distribute our apps, and placing all kinds of limits on what can do to our computing devices."

Developers have been vocally critical of some of Apple's policies when it comes to the App Store—such as inconsistent app approval policies, lack of communication, and some limits on app capabilities—and we have generally agreed with those criticisms as both developers and users. But that doesn't mean Palm's platform doesn't have some of the same limitations—such as a centralized app store that requires approval before apps can be sold.

"I feel passionately about bringing these values—freedom, choice, and information flow—to mobile [platforms], and carry my Web DNA with me," wrote Almaer. This suggests that Palm will be more open and transparent with developers—something we can get behind, and something we think Apple needs to be with iPhone developers.

Apple's choices in how it manages the App Store and what kinds of functions it may restrict has certain benefits and disadvantages, and there's no question that that there have been missteps as Apple—at the bleeding edge of the smartphone revolution—figures out the best way to handle the flood of app submissions and balancing the demands of developers, users, and mobile carriers. Though Palm has embraced the technology of the open web for development, and made overtures about being more "open" than the competition, that doesn't mean Palm's platform is inherently better or will be immune to some of the same problems that Apple has faced.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to imbue Mobile Safari with the latest web standards, like HTML5 video and audio playback, offline storage, and even location-aware APIs. It has even offered abilities to web app developers that aren't yet available on other platforms, like CSS transforms and animations. The net effect is that developers do have choice on the iPhone platform—they can develop applications that are delivered via the web without any restriction or approval from Apple, using the very same open web that Almaer and Galbraith so highly esteem.